Not What It Seems
by Lucyh95
Summary: Sometimes, nothing is what it seems... (Rated T for mentions of torture and bad words.)


**Not What It Seems**

* * *

 _There's no way out._

 _Sam shoots up, desperately gasping for air._

0000

Sam stared up at the roof of the car before he let his gaze slide back to the side window. Outside it was dark aside for the one street lamp that stood a few feet away and illuminated the otherwise deserted parking lot with a soft orange glow.

Sam sighed. He couldn't sleep anymore. For the half past hour, he'd tried to find a comfortable sleep position. But the sleep wouldn't come to him. And thus, he lay there, staring out of the side window.

Despite the open windows, it was warm inside the vehicle. The slight breeze that blew did not improve the temperature inside the car.

Sam sighed again and rolled his neck. The muscles there were stiff from laying too long in one position. His tall frame didn't help, either. 6'5 didn't do well in the back seat of the car.

He looked over to his brother. Dean was sleeping soundlessly, stretched out in the front seat. Sam smiled at the sight.

When he looked at the faint glowing numbers on his watch, it read 03:04.

Daybreak was still hours away.

Sam decided he would go for a short walk. His bladder needed emptying, anyway.

With a soft grunt, he sat up, rubbing a hand over his face.

When he opened the creaking door, Dean stirred and lifted his head. "Where are you going?" The words were heavy with sleep.

"I've got to take a leak. Go back to sleep, Dean." Sam said softly.

"Kay."

And Dean was asleep again.

Sam struggled himself out of the car. Limbs heavy and stiff from the cramped position he'd been laying in.

He breathed out a sigh of relief when he finally stood on his two legs. And he started to walk.

His soft footsteps reverberated across the empty parking lot.

Clouds partly hid the moon, leaving little light for illumination of the space around him.

It wasn't a far walk to the forest that bordered with the parking area. It stood in the background like a dark shape.

Arrived at the forest edge, he looked behind him.

The black exterior of the Impala glinted softly in the glow of the only street light. There were no other cars, and there was no sound to be heard but the breeze that whistled through the trees.

It had been unusually quiet on the road, too.

But Sam didn't mind; he liked the quiet. It helped him to sort everything out in his mind.

They had driven until the sun began to set, bathing everything in a golden glow. The black silhouettes of birds in a V shape decorating the bright and orange horizon.

Sam had stared out of the window until the sun was entirely under, taking in the beautiful sight and enjoying the mild breeze that ruffled his hair.

His brother's music had been playing in the background, Dean's fingers tapping in time with the beat on the steering wheel.

The insistence of his full bladder brought him back out of his thoughts.

He turned back to the dark before him and took a step forward. Branches snapped under his feet and dry leaves crunched.

Soon, autumn would arrive and paint everything in red and yellow, until only bare trees and rust-colored leaves were left behind.

The darkness around him was calming. The beam of his flashlight and the sliver of moonlight that filtered through the trees was enough for him to find his way through the bossage.

When he found a suitable spot, he put the flashlight down on a nearby tree trunk and relieved himself.

After being done, he picked up the flashlight again and began his way back to his sleeping brother.

His mind wandered again to the setting sun of that evening, to the fiery, orange horizon and his brother next to him behind the wheel. They'd been driving for a long time that day. And now he thought about it, where was it that they'd come from—where were they going next?

 _Huh?_

That was weird, why couldn't he remember? A flash of unease ran through him.

Maybe weariness was getting to him now.

Suddenly the darkness seemed a little muggy, and he quickened his step.

He became aware of the silence that surrounded him, it was deafening, and no whistling breeze was to be heard anymore.

 _Had it even been there in the first place?_

Sam shook his head, he definitely should get some sleep soon.

To his relief, he arrived soon at the forest edge again, but—

He frowned.

The Impala was gone.

A chill ran down his back. Something was seriously wrong here.

Dean would never leave him, but... the car was _gone_. Like it had never been there before in the first place.

A branch snapped behind him.

He spun around.

Nothing. Nothing but the blackness that suddenly didn't seem so calming anymore. It was like the darkness was somehow more profound. Bottomless. It was like the forest spread out farther than it had been before.

He took a step back. His mouth ran dry and sweat formed on his forehead.

He swung around and sprinted across the open space that looked suddenly so much larger. He ran, but it felt like he wasn't moving forward. The expanse of the parking lot appeared to grow, bending at the edges.

The blackness that surrounded him pressed on him, coming closer and closer.

Out the corner of his eye, he saw the orange glow of the street lamp. Nothing was reassuring about it anymore. Its now ghostly light casting deep shadows on the ground.

It flickered, he turned his head toward the light. And it was not only its light that wavered: it was the whole lamp itself. It slid in and out of existence.

"What the—"

A shiver ran through him.

He was supposed to be with Dean. Safe and with Dean. Sleeping in the Impala in a parking lot, and not getting caught up in some freaky illusion—or what the hell this was.

He pinched himself. But otherwise, then a stinging sensation in his arm, nothing changed.

"DEAN!" His brother's name rips itself out of his scratchy throat. It reverberated through the air, echoing like the open space stretched out endlessly.

"DEAN!" But no answer comes. And he knew it. Knew that no one would answer him.

Dean isn't here. Not anymore.

 _Maybe Sam had been alone all along._

The thought comes to him so suddenly it nearly takes his breath away.

 _No. No, no, no._

It couldn't be, maybe he had been infected by some creature. Maybe he's hallucinating.

He had nothing to protect himself with, the only thing he had was his flashlight.

His heart is beating too fast in his ribcage. And by now, sweat has soaked his entire shirt. It sticks to his back.

But he has to stay calm. He shakes his head and takes in a deep breath.

He can't seem to take his gaze off the orange luminosity that's swimming in and out of his vision.

It looks like the sun; the setting sun from yesterday evening, Sam thinks, mind a little hazy. And his legs wobble.

The glow increases until there is practically nothing that fills his fiery vision but the orange color that shades red at the edges.

It feels like it's burning through him—taking him over.

Then, with force, he tears his gaze away and whirls around, looking for the exit. But, there is none. Everywhere he looks he's surrounded by the dark shapes of trees.

There has to be a way out, Sam thinks, and he dashes across the parking lot, keeping an eye on his surroundings.

Sam slips quietly past the trees. The beam of his flashlight leading the way.

Again, he becomes aware of the silence. Nothing moves. No breeze whistles through the trees. No rustle of leaves.

It's dead silence.

He shivers again.

It feels like the dark trees are looming over him. Watching him, and every second he expects something to grab him, something lurking in the dark shadows.

But nothing comes. Nothing moves.

He tries to remember what Dean and he had hunted the day before—tries desperately to remember why they came here and where they were going next.

But nothing comes up.

Everything is clouded. Except–except for that sunset from yesterday evening. The image is so sharp and bright on his retina that it hurts. _It burns._

 _Why, why, why._

A voice in the back of head his whispers something to him. Tone desperate and pleading. But it can't reach him, it's too faint.

After what feels like an eternity he finally sees in the distance the forest border dooming up.

He skids to a halt.

His eyes widen.

Before him lays the parking lot, one lamp shining its orange light.

No Impala. No Dean.

 _There's no way out._

 _There's no way out._

 _There's no way out._

 _There's no way out._

Suddenly, a mocking laugh fills his ears, the sound bouncing off the concrete.

It hurts, and it feels like his head is about to burst from the sudden pressure.

Orange spots are dancing before his eyes.

Then the world bursts into burning fragments. The sound of crunching leaves filling his ears.

He screams.

Sam shoots up, desperately gasping for air. His chest heaves with the effort to get some oxygen into his starving lungs. His shirt is sweat-soaked and causes it to stick to his back.

He's back in the Impala. It's dark. No light is spilling through the windows.

Sam lets out a relieved sigh, and he shifts his gaze to the windshield. The dark outline of Dean is sitting up in the front seat.

 _I probably woke him up._

Sam wants to say something and opens his mouth.

A white, grinning flash of teeth radiates in the darkness.

Sam's mouth clicks shut.

"You should never have left that car of yours, Sammy. You should never have done that."

And Sam wants to scream because he _remembers_ , the memories slam into him, but his vocal chords refuse.

Or maybe they are gone. Ripped out by cold hands, slippery from red, hot blood.

Sam remembers; he's still _there_. _He was never out._

Red eyes flare up.

 _There's no way out._

And now Sam screams, the blinding orange of scorching flames filling his vision.

But the sound of his scream never reaches his own ears.

"Haven't you really learned anything from our time together, Sammy? You can't escape me."

"Not ever."

 _There's no way out._

* * *

Hello again! I hope this fic turned out okay. Tell me what you think of it.

Thanks to the amazing BaldiDaughterChevy I came up with this idea. She's awesome and her fics are awesome too! :P I highly recommend checking them out!

I asked her for idea's/prompts, and one of them was this list of liminal spaces.

Liminal spaces: places where reality is a bit altered. (Empty parking lots are one of them.)

Not beta'd. All the mistakes are mine. I hope I didn't mess up too bad with the tenses. Still one of the things I struggle with a lot :')

Hope you enjoyed!


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